35+ Free Bookplate Printables & Templates

Building a home library? Here’s a big bunch of bookplates you can print off then stick inside your favorite books, you’ll find a nice assortment of designs suitable for both children and grownups.

There is A LOT here: cartoon characters, black & white motifs, full color patterns, template blanks, elegant vintage designs, texts that include: “Ex Libris”, “This Book Belongs To”, “From the Library Of” & others with silly or witty sayings.

For the best results possible, I found a great tutorial online for how to paste them into place (see: andyenglish.com).

General advice (visit website for full details):

• Wash hands before starting & practice on a few cheaper paperbacks until you get the hang of things.
• It’s preferable to use an acid free glue that is easily thinned with water plus a good paintbrush to apply (one that doesn’t lose bristles easily).
• Wipe away any excess glue with a clean, damp cloth then allow to fully air dry before closing the volume.

More tips:

• Avoid shiny or coated paper, the inks won’t behave as well long term.
• Placement: I prefer the inside front cover (hardbacks) or on the first page (paperbacks). It’s also fine to affix it to the back cover (inside).
• Avoid covering over any text or interesting illustrations.
• If painting a thin layer of liquid glue is too fussy for you (as noted above), a UHU glue stick is another option (it’s acid free as well).
• Consider getting a custom rubber stamp made (I picked up a few from a couple different sellers on Etsy). You can use archival inks in a variety of colors & it’s another great option.
• You’ll find it’s quite common to have “ex libris” somewhere on bookplates (especially older/antique ones). This is Latin for “From the Library of” (a stricter translation: “from the books“) and is typically located above the owner’s name.
• I’ve just updated a massive collection of DIY Bookmarks you won’t want to miss (a nice mix of crafts, DIY and printables).

New Collection Update: March, 2022

Assorted Bookplate Printables: Collection

Directions:

• All gallery images below are previews of what’s available on the source pages. Click what you like and a new browser tab will open to visit the website. Many of the sites offer more than one design so take your time poking around, lots to check out!
• All files are mainly in pdf or jpg format. Some are customizable and editable for you to personalize as you wish.
• If you have trouble printing a full sheet (distortions, uneven, etc.), try downloading the file to your computer desktop and printing from there.
• Everything should be free with not even an email or membership required to download, but if something’s changed and no longer available, please let me know in the comments section below so I can remove it.

Now on to the goodies, I’ll be adding more to this list as I find them. Enjoy!

P.S. There’s a resource listed below with A TONNE of great little treasures that you don’t want to miss (myhomelibrary.co.uk). It’s hard to tell from the image I used in the gallery below, but if you click through the left sidebar options, each section has a bunch of goodies available that I don’t want you to miss out on.

Old Fly Leaf Rhymes And Decorations

(source: The New England Magazine; 1901)

“Steal not this book, For fear of shame, For here you see The owner’s name. If this book you steal away. What will you say On Judgment day When God will say, Where is that book you stole away? “Then I will say, ‘O, do not so’; And He will say, ‘Go down below!”	“If this book should chance to roam, Box its ears and send it home.”	“If in this book my name you see, You’ll know that it belongs to me.”
“Steal not this book, for if you do, [Name – John Smith] will be after you.”		“If I should chance to lose this book And you should chance to find it, Remember that my name is Rob; McDougall comes behind it.”

(source: Folklore and Book Culture; Kevin J. Hayes)